Geneva 2009: EDAG Light Car â€“ Open Source Concept

24 January, 2009 02:34:00

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German manufacturer EDAG has announced its concept for the upcoming Geneva auto show, the Light Car - Open Source, the concept that demonstrates new lightweight recyclable structure, innovative use of organic LED lighting technology, and an electric power train.

For the body concept of the Light Car - Open Source, EDAG has broken new ground, and for the first time ever in automotive engineering, used ASA.TEC's innovative basalt fiber, a lightweight, stable and - above all - 100% recyclable material.

Propulsion is taken care of by intelligent, electric drive systems in the wheels, which not only feature a high degree of efficiency to get the power of the lithium-ion batteries onto the road, but will also provide considerably greater creative scope for the vehicle package.

The drive concept of the light car is based on an all-electric, monovalent drive system with a range of up to 150 kilometers (93 miles), making it eminently suitable for everyday use. The matter of propulsion is taken care of by intelligent, electric drive systems in the wheels, which not only feature a high degree of efficiency to get the power of the lithium-ion batteries in the rolling chassis onto the road, but will also provide considerably greater creative scope for the vehicle package. This is made possible by a system integrated in the wheels, which consolidates a number of functions: steering, brakes, drive and suspension.

The light car's exterior dimensions - 4 meters long and 1.70 meters wide - put it in the compact car size range, and as both engine and gearbox have been eliminated, the wheelbase - 2.90 meters - has been brought up to luxury class level, with enough space to seat five passengers in comfort.

With its innovative light concept, the Light Car - Open Source will be one of the first vehicles to utilize OLED technology as an individually adaptable design and communication element. The entire body of the vehicle is see-through like glass, but also doubles as an OLED screen. Owners will also be able to reconfigure these lights to customize the exterior look of the car, much the same as you move icons around on your computer's desktop. Beyond decoration, these organic LEDs can be used to communicate with other drivers.

"We have transferred today's multimedia and lighting technology standards to the car, and in future want to offer the customer scope for free configuration, as the entire surface of the vehicle functions like the display of a multimedia installation, and can be used intelligently and individually, " explains Johannes Barckmann, Head of the EDAG Design Studio.

With the choice of materials for EDAG's Light Car - Open Source, the emphasis is also on innovative solutions. Apart from the glass surfaces or alternatively Makrolon, the material of the future, the structure of the vehicle is predominantly of an innovative, industrially standardized basalt fiber (ASA.TEC fiber). This 100% recyclable and almost infinitely available raw material is not just lighter and less costly than aluminum or carbon, but also has practically the same strength properties as conventional materials.

This new quality of basalt fiber, which is to be utilized in the construction of rotors for large-scale wind power plants in the future, can now be put to systematic use in the automotive industry. This type of basalt fiber therefore has the potential for becoming a main structural element and thus being used as a future lightweight material in cars for the high volume market.

The body concept of the "Light Car - Open Source" is based on a rolling chassis - a genuine, universal platform to which the modules for various bodies can be added. This enables vehicle derivatives to be developed more quickly and at lower cost.

The new lightweight material, standardized basalt fiber, an electric drive system, rolling chassis and - last but not least - the innovative lighting concept offer great potential for a new vehicle concept. Many of the technologies shown today are still in the early stages of their development. For this reason, EDAG regards this as an open source project, and approaches other companies with which it can then work on the development of the EDAG Light Car. The company has made a deliberate decision to address itself to a wide circle, thus enabling new notions to be absorbed in the car of the future. Computer and software developers are to apply their new technologies in exactly the same way as ASA.TEC basalt fiber, OLED technology or electric drive specialists do.

With "Light Car - Open Source", the EDAG Group intends not only to substantiate its claims to being an innovative engineering partner to the automotive industry, but also to stimulate the discussion of ways and means of satisfying future consumer demands - ecological and economical - on the next generation of cars.

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